When we read the above verses, they can be daunting, if we focus on what and who is against us. However, our victory comes in knowing Who is on our side, what He has done for us, because our victory comes by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. As we go into battle, it is important to know what weapons are forged against us by the enemy of our souls. Our Adversary has only two basic weapons to use against us: deception and accusation. They may not seem like much, but he has honed those weapons to perfection.
Deception began way back in the Garden of Eden, when the enemy deceived Eve into believing lies and half-truths. If the enemy can get us to fall for his deception, then he will quickly come along and whisper in our ear what a terrible failure we are, and ask us how we could ever consider ourselves to be a Christian. The goal of the adversary is to defeat us and make us useless in the Kingdom of God. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us that the thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy. Many believe that the thief Jesus is describing is our enemy. While he comes to steal our joy, our purpose and our focus; to kill our passion to serve the King of Kings, his greatest desire is to destroy us. That does not mean to blow us up destructively as in an action movie. No, the word that is used in John 10 is “apolese” and it means to render inactive or set on a shelf.
The adversary may not steal our salvation. That is guaranteed. But he would like to render us inactive. He may best accomplish this by using his two sharp and powerful weapons: deception and accusation. We must be aware of these two weapons used by the enemy as he tries to trick and tempt us through deception and then condemn us should we fall. It’s a battle. But our victory is always through Christ. Let’s be aware.
Chip Whitman
Pastor of Care & Counseling
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